Ten Years After Vatican’s Call for Global Christian Churches to Work Together, Professor to Participate in Ecumenism Symposium

A philosophy professor from the College of the Holy Cross will join scholars and clergy involved in the work of ecumenism — the aim of unity among all Christian churches throughout the world —for a symposium at the University of Scranton on Oct. 15.

Rev. John Panteleimon Manoussakis, Edward Bennett Williams Fellow and assistant professor of philosophy at Holy Cross, will take part in the symposium titled “The Church of Christ & Ecumenism — 10 Years After Dominus Iesus.”

The symposium is being held a decade since the publication of perhaps the most important document on ecclesiology in modern times, Dominus Iesus, drafted by then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). The symposium will bring together theologians from Roman Catholic, Polish Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican traditions to consider the current prospects and challenges of ecumenical dialogue. An ordained deacon in the Greek Orthodox Church, Manoussakis will represent the view of the Orthodox Churches.

The late Richard John Nehaus, a prominent American member of the clergy, reflecting on the response of many observers to Dominus Iesus, remarked that Dominus Iesus was widely perceived as delivering a “body blow to ecumenism.” Although the document’s main focus was on relations not between divided Christians but between Christianity and other faiths, the document’s comments on inter-Christian relations sparked intense controversy and debate, both within and outside the Catholic Church — debate about the nature of the Church, its purpose, the basis of unity, and the meaning of Christian division.

Manoussakis was born in Athens, Greece, and earned a doctorate in the philosophy of religion at Boston College. Manoussakis is author of God After Metaphysics: A Theological Aesthetic (Indiana University, 2007) and of several articles including, most recently, a treatment of the respective understanding of Old Testament theophany by St. Augustine and St. Gregory Palamas, published in Modern Theology. He has also written on papal primacy in light of recent development in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.

For more information on the conference, visit the University of Scranton website.